I think I have some good news!!!
In a last ditch effort to avoid having to upgrade the PSU, I thought I'd try one more thing: I went to the local Futureshop (Only because they have a good return policy if it didn't work
. Their prices are a little high, however), and I picked up a Zotac GT 520.
I know it's not quite as good as the GT 430, but it supports True HD and Master Audio, and will definitely be an upgrade from my existing ion 330 setup. (I know that XBMCbuntu currently does not support TrueHD and MA, but I have a feeling it's *very* close!).
Anyhow, plugged it in, and SUCCESS! No reboots as of yet. I've tested it on all the content that gave me and instant crash (High bit rate mkvs, and my goto guaranteed stresser - the killasample.mkv video snippet that is floating around the net).
From the literature, the GT 430 has a TDP of 49w, while the 520 has a TDP of 29w. Quite a difference! A bonus is that the heatsink is smaller, so there is more clearance between the side of the case and the fan which hopefully will lead (combined with the reduced TDP) to even cooler temps (currently at 35 Celcius at idle).
Anywho, this is only preliminary. I'll start using this box exclusively, and report back in a few days
.
Note: I looked at the kill-a-watt a couple of times, and in my unscientific sampling
, the idle wattage use is 30watts, while under load it hovers between 39 and 41 watts... (15 to 20 watts less then the GT 430).